Blueberry Lemon Pistachio Muffins are densely packed with fruity delight, and they are vegan and delicious. With or without frosting, they are a great dessert.
Blueberry Lemon Pistachio Muffins are one of my few incursions into baking territory so far. I was a little intimidated by all the fabulous dessert oriented blogs out there. I went a little overboard with the toppings on this. Toasted coconut, chopped pistachios, berries, and chocolate mint leaves from my garden.
Earth Balance has some great products that I use frequently:
Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Sticks – I used these for this recipe.
Earth Balance Vegan Cheddar Mac and Cheese – This really satisfies my mac n cheese cravings.
Earth Balance Coconut Peanut Butter (crunchy) – Just yum!
- I’m not getting anything from Earth Balance this, I just dig their products.
K.I.S.S. stands for keep it simple stupid. I need to heed that acronym in the kitchen. I probably could have scaled back on the party on muffin top. Maybe blending the coconut, berries, and mint into the batter. While I really, REALLY liked the frosting, you can make these without it if you’re avoiding added sugar/calories. I made a double batch of the frosting so I could use it on other things.
Can we talk about flavor? As I spend more time cooking (and tasting) my palate is slowly becoming more acclimated to various flavors and more sharply refined. Things I used to enjoy no longer appeal to me and things that I thought I didn’t like are now some of my favorites.
When we were in grade school, many of us learned that there were four basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Now there’s a new taste to learn and it’s called umami (pronounced “oo-mommy”). Actually, while the term is new to us, it’s not new to the Japanese, who have used the term to describe the “fifth taste” since the early 1900s. What exactly is the umami taste? Well, there’s no English word that’s synonymous with umami, however it’s most often described as a savory or meaty taste.
Salty, umami, sour, bitter, and sweet are my personal order of preferred flavors. That explains my lack of dessert cooking. Most sweet things are overwhelming to my taste buds. I’m not a fan of chocolate. horror of horrors right? I know. I usually pass on most cake or pie offered to me.
- 1½ Cups oat flour
- 1 Cup shelled roasted pistachios (pistachios without the shells)
- 1 Tsp. baking soda
- ¼ Tsp. salt
- ¼ Cup fresh lemon juice (from 1 large lemon)
- ½ Cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1 Tbsp. Earth Balance vegan soy free buttery sticks
- ⅔ Cup sugar
- 1 Tsp. almond extract
- ½ Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
- ¾ Cup fresh blueberries
- For the vegan lemon buttercream
- ½ Cup Earth Balance vegan soy free buttery stick
- 1 Cup organic powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
- Zest of 1 lemon
- For garnish: 2 Tbsp. chopped pistachios
- 2 Tbsp. toasted coconut flakes
- Fresh chocolate mint leaves
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line a cupcake pan with liners and spray the inside of the liners with cooking spray.
- Add pistachios to a food processor or blender
- Process until pistachios are finely ground.
- Transfer to a large bowl and add in oat flour, baking soda and salt.
- Whisk together to combine.
- In a separate large bowl, mix together lemon juice, almond milk, melted butter, sugar, almond extract, apple cider vinegar and cornstarch until well combined.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
- Gently fold in blueberries.
- Divide batter evenly into cupcake liners, filling ⅔ of the way full.
- Bake for 23-27 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
- Transfer to wire rack to cool for 5 minutes.
- Remove muffins from pan and place on a wire rack to cool
- Let muffins cool completely (at least 1 hour),
- Make the frosting:
- Using a stand or hand mixer, whip butter, powdered sugar, lemon juice and zest together until fluffy
- Toast coconut in dry pan for 3 - 4 minutes. toss often
- Frost the cupcakes however you like and garnish with coconut, pistachios and extra blueberries,
Cooking tunes: Concrete Blonde – The Essential. Veruca Salt – American Thighs. L7 – Smell the Magic. The Donnas – Gold Medal.
Grrl power!
Writing tunes: The Distillers – Sing Sing Death House. X-Ray Spex – Germ Free Adolescents. Bikini Kill – The Singles. Babes in Toyland – Fontanelle.
